Everyday life as a Prisoner of War

Tom lived at Sturminster Newton from 1950 until his death in 2004, and extracts from his memories were published in the BVM in 2002. Fifteen years later, his words and pictures have been published as a book, Behind the Wire: Everyday Life as a PoW

The thousands of PoWs included enough former professional footballers to stage international matches between England v Scotland

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When Tom Guttridge returned from war in 1945, he brought home not only vivid memories of the battlefield and his five years in prisoner-of-war camps but more than 100 photographs obtained from his German captors.

They included scenes of the Calais battlefield where Tom was captured in May 1940 and pictures illustrating both the horrors and the lighter side of daily life in the camps.

Tom lived at Sturminster Newton from 1950 until his death in 2004, and extracts from his memories were published in the BVM in 2002.

Fifteen years later, his words and pictures have been published as a book, Behind the Wire: Everyday Life as a PoW.

His son Roger, the Dorset journalist and author, who has written a foreword and a postscript, says: “My father was always happy to share his memories and I know he would be delighted that they are now in book form.”

As well as the Second World War, the book also covers Tom’s seven years in the Rifle Brigade in the 1930s, including his training at Winchester Barracks.

Tom gets a trim

“There are some amazing tales,” says Roger. “Like the PT instructor who scattered drawing pins at the end of a vaulting horse to encourage recruits to try harder.

“After a sack of peas was spilled on the gravel parade ground and hastily shovelled up and served at dinner that evening, my father cheekily complained, ‘There are peas in my gravel, sir’ – for which he was put on a charge.”

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After capture in 1940, Tom was among thousands who faced a 25-day march across western European followed by a 500-mile journey by cattle train from Aachen to Stalag VIII B in Poland.

Comrades in Harmony, a PoW band

On his second day there, Tom was interviewed about his previous employment.

He had been a lift engineer before joining the army but claimed he was a farmworker.

“I thought it would ensure fresh air and fresh produce but the Germans had a peculiar sense of humour,” he writes. “Those who gave ‘farming’ as their occupation were told it was the coalmines for them while genuine miners were employed on local farms.”

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In a bid to spend time in the medical block, Tom claimed he had an in-growing toenail. But his plan backfired when a “butcher of a doctor” grabbed a pair of pliers and instantly ripped off his big toenail. He was on crutches for weeks.

Tom (back row, second right) and other St John Ambulance first-aiders outside the camp theatre

In October 1940 Tom was transferred to the Delbruick Shaft near Katowice, where he spent more than two years working 3,000ft underground alongside Polish miners.

Once he and a mate fell asleep towards the end of their shift and returned to camp after the gates had been locked for the night.

Thoughtful comrades had covered for them during the roll call and the guards refused to readmit them. They spent an uncomfortable night back at the pithead.

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The reluctant miners found their owns ways of sabotaging the German war machine.

Lookout tower with vegetable garden in the foreground

One ploy was to part-fill the pit wagons with rubble and top it with coal, causing mayhem when the load reached the surface.

Another trick was to derail and upend the coal trains, causing long delays, as they had to be reloaded.

Despite these antics, many PoWs were driven to self-mutilation. Tom himself had boiling water poured over his arm. He couldn’t stop shaking for hours but had two weeks off work.

In 1942 the PoWs were transferred to Stalag 383 in Bavaria, where Tom’s recent mining experience earned him a role digging escape tunnels.

He gives a detailed account of this work and of the night in April 1944 when, during a camp blackout prompted by an Allied air raid, eight of them escaped.

Bank holiday fun in Stalag 383

Tom was one of four who made it onto a Liechtenstein-bound goods train at Munich, only to be recaptured when German soldiers sprayed the wagons with mustard and tear gas.

A highlight of camp life was the arrival of Red Cross parcels, which supplemented the meagre rations.

Opening one parcel, Tom found a woman’s gold watch that had obviously been dropped by the packer.

He handed it to the German authorities and 18 months later was amazed to receive a thank you message via the Red Cross, who had reunited it with its grateful owner in Canada.

Tom was finally liberated in May 1945 and the following year married Connie Ridout, the Dorset girl he had met while billeted at Charlton Marshall early in 1940. He worked as a telephone engineer at Shaftesbury.

• Behind the Wire: Everyday Life as a PoW, by Tom Guttridge (Amberley, £14.99) is available from bookshops, Amazon or direct from Roger Guttridge (roger.guttridge@btinternet.com, tel 01929 471402). Roger will be signing copies at Sturminster Newton Museum on Saturday 23rd September (10am-12 noon).